76ers' Covington carted off; neck injury possible
PHILADELPHIA — 76ers forward Robert Covington was taken off on a stretcher and transported to a local hospital after sustaining an apparent neck injury in the third quarter of Friday night’s game over the Brooklyn Nets.
“It’s precautionary stuff, just doing tests on his neck to try and learn a little bit more about that,” Sixers coach Brett Brown said after Philadelphia’s 95-89 victory. “Right now, we have nothing more that we know or can say.”
Covington appeared to acknowledge the crowd as he was being carted into the locker room, and he heard supportive cheers from the fans at Wells Fargo Center following the scary scene.
Covington suffered the injury following a bizarre collision in which he was inadvertently struck in the head by teammate Jerami Grant‘s right foot.
Grant went up to contest what he thought was going to be a shot by driving Brooklyn point guard Donald Sloan in the paint.
Grant made contact with Sloan, who passed to Thaddeus Young down low, and his right leg whipped in the air, drilling Covington in the process. Grant then fell on the court and may have hit his head on the hardwood before Young fell backward onto the Philadelphia forward’s head after missing his layup attempt.
Both players stayed down for a while, resulting in a lengthy stoppage of play. After being attended to be the trainers, Grant walked gingerly to the bench and was evaluated for a concussion. Results of those tests were unknown.
